Podcast 531-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-37

Podcast 531-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-37. In the final podcast from the EAA Airventure Show in Osh Kosh, we’re live during the reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor; a fitting backdrop after the tumult of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. While the democrats were meeting in the city of brotherly love the air show was in full tilt and so much fun! From camping on the tarmac next to your plane, to the possibilities and difficulties designing, building and marketing the flying car there’s a lot to talk about in this celebration of everything aviation. As we get ready to pack up Mobile Podcast Command comes the realization that the common theme running through all the podcasts from the air show this week has been the passion and fun associated with flying; or the Freedom to Fly. Optimism permeates this gathering. It’s present in almost everyone here, including the people that don’t fly, who come to watch the air shows and admire the planes (like me!). Optimism and passion are two emotions not present in the national political discourse; a fact revealed with one look at social media, cable television news or a moment spent with talk radio. The Freedom to Fly means the freedom and willingness to dream, to connect with your life’s passion. Again, something many people in this country seem to have forgotten. Not here at EAA though. There’s more than enough passion and dreams to go around from the air shows, to the war birds, to the museum, to the experimental and home built planes, and workshops. Optimism and passion are present in the conversations, and especially in the young people. With so many airline pilots retiring and general aviation growing into the future, great opportunities await those who learn to fly. I can’t help but believe part of the economic issues facing our country is a mismatch in skills between what we need, and what our schools are producing. Flying is but one example. So, amid the noise and grandeur of the pearl harbor attack reenactment, jet fighters streaking overhead while I record additional content for this podcast, and my observations about this unique summer experience, this is a little bit of a different Podcast 531-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-37 this week. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Karow Contracting, your Storm Damage Specialists.

Podcast 529

First Night at EAA. Sunday nights are load in nights for exhibitors, fly-ins, and media at the EAA AirVenture Air Show at Osh Kosh, Wisconsin. I always celebrate with a regular podcast, live from just under the control tower as we start a new week, on the First Night at EAA. It’s late. Everyone is asleep, but I am getting in the last few thoughts on the coming show, and new developments in the political world this weekend. Having just come from the RNC at Cleveland and witnessing the divisions in the Republican party firsthand, it’s a little weird to see the same kinds of fissures developing with the democrats at Philadelphia with the specter of the democrat establishment killing the grassroots too. Throughout this hot and stormy Sunday I’ve been thinking about a recent email exchange with a Trump supporter that says so much about American politics today. A gentleman who normally sends me great jokes via email suddenly swerved into politics exhorting me and a few score others on his email list to ‘vote Trump’. Why? Because Trump is going to get rid of NAFTA and the TPP and bring all the jobs back to the United States. I decided to press him to find out exactly why he thinks what he thinks and why he would take the unusual step of pushing his friends to vote Trump. It took several emails to learn he just ‘feels’ Trump is the best guy, Trump is like Lincoln, Trump knows what to do and he’ll do it, and don’t make me explain this stuff, google it. Then he asks me what I think of the questions I asked him! That serves as a debate in the land of Trump. A place where everyone gets what he wants, when he wants it, because Trump said so. A place where one bright morning a box will arrive from China and everyone will open it up and find a note that reads, “Sorry about taking your job at the bucket factory way back in 1997 but we needed it. Here it is back, slightly used but we hope you’ll forgive us”. There it is people. Donald J. Trump is going to get Uncle Joe his job back at Bethlehem Steel so he and Martha can buy back the 1993 Buick Regal, which the GM plant in Flint will be making again thanks to old ‘I’ll make the trains run on time’ Trump. I realized, while ordering coffee at the concessions stand next to the beautiful B-25 out here on the airfield, that there are a lot of 50+ children out there. Thinking is just too hard. Researching facts takes too much time. Actually learning the contours of an issue is a job no one wants. Lots of final thoughts — for the time being — on the convention, the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the DNC chair, and the impending Trump presidency. Or not. Thank God I can talk about airplanes for the next few days! Sponsored by Hydrus Performance.

Podcast 527

RNC Dies At Cleveland? Day One of the Republican National Convention. While the mainstream media covers the convention from inside, The Bob Davis Podcasts is on the streets outside Quicken Arena. Some insiders would agree with the headline; RNC Dies At Cleveland. Some are actually saying that a rules fight that resulted in a few walkouts signals the end of the grassroots movement in republican politics, and certainly the end of something once known as a ‘principled’ conservative. While pundits point to a platform they say is the most conservative in history they ignore rule changes that give the RNC complete control over future conventions. The takeaway? No more Ron Paul insurgencies and no more Ted Cruz and evangelist grassroots movements. While the chance always existed for the Republican Establishment to join forces with the grassroots movements to ‘Dump Trump’, instead the establishment joined forces with the Trump campaign. In the end, the grassroots are out. Permanently. As some republicans – including various state party officials – cracked under the pressure of hard ball politics, it’s the same old story with republicans. Why rock the boat? Why make a spectacle of yourself and your state for the media? While there’s talk of a walkout, with each passing moment, the majority of the GOP, passive to the core, will go along to get along. Some see this outcome as necessary to unify the party for victory. Others see it as the death of the grassroots movement in republican politics, and the republican party. Outside the exclusion zone around the convention venue, delegates and politicos taking a break mixed with Cleveland’s downtown workers, and street people milling around bars and restaurants. It was a street fair featuring network TV studios and bloviating rather than kielbasa. Hit the streets with the Bob Davis Podcasts, starting with a woman who lives on the streets giving her analysis of the political situation, moving onto a protest, plus Blaze Correspondent Mike Opelka and more. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating and Hydrus Performance.